“Yeah?” I said, slowly sliding my whole hand inside. It worked. It really worked. My heart pounded, and my f ingers curled around the cold stone as the meadow around me started to spin. All I had to do was step through, and then—

And then I would either come back or I wouldn’t, but at least I wouldn’t have to live knowing I hadn’t tried.

“Could you come see me sometime?” she said. “When you’re not busy, I mean. Calliope was the only company I had, besides Henry, and he doesn’t come by that often, either.”

Even if she hadn’t asked, I would’ve come. “Of course.

Didn’t you have family?”

She shook her head, and for a split second, her face crumpled. “Henry was my family. I knew him for a long time before…” She cleared her throat and straightened, and this time her smile was forced. “Anyway. Now you have to live, else I’ll die of boredom down here, and you wouldn’t want that on your conscience, would you?”

I laughed weakly. “Thank you for everything. I’ll see you soon.”

And without a second thought, without giving that voice in the back of my mind the chance to talk me out of it or say James and Ava knew what was better for me than I did, I stepped through the wall, and my world went black.

CHAPTER TWELVE

CH A IN ED

This time when I opened my eyes and saw Cronus’s cavern, it wasn’t a vision.

I froze as I took in the scene before me. I’d half expected to see the bloodbath Calliope had promised, except instead of me as the victim, she would have taken her rage out on Persephone.

But Persephone stood in the center of the cavern, completely unscathed. Her eyes were narrowed and her hands on her hips as she stood face-to-face with Calliope, and neither of them said a word. Why wasn’t she torn to pieces, or at the very least bloodied and broken? And where were James and Ava?

The eldest members of the council were still chained together in the mouth of the cave, and as far as I could tell, they were all unconscious. I only counted f ive though, and I couldn’t see any signs of Ava’s telltale blond hair.

Then I spotted Cronus. The fog swirled around the bars of its cage, and instead of going after Persephone, it moved upward toward the high ceiling, forming a pool at the top.

Only a few feet below, hanging from their arms by tendrils of fog, were James and Ava.

Any question of whether or not I’d done the right thing vanished. At best, Calliope would hold them all hostage.

At worst, they would be dead as soon as she dealt with Persephone. I squinted, searching for any signs of life from either of the two bodies dangling from the ceiling. Nothing.

“I don’t have all day.” Calliope’s voice cut through the silence, and a shiver ran down my spine. Her innocent, girly tone was gone, replaced by the all-encompassing voice of a deity, the same sort Henry used when he was mad. It was full of commands and demanded respect, and even though I was hidden, the urge to obey ran through me.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” said Persephone exasperatedly. What was she doing? “I’ve already told you I’m not saying anything unless you let them go. You can’t keep me here, and I’m perfectly happy walking back to my little slice of paradise and forgetting any of this ever happened.”

Calliope swore, and a jolt of pure power shook the cavern, blasting a chunk of rock out of the wall behind Persephone.

Instead of doing something sensible like falling down dead or crying out in agony, Persephone laughed. “Is that really all you’ve got? I have eternity to play these games, but if all you’re going to do is repeat the same thing, it’s going to get tedious quickly.”

“I will have Cronus kill them one by one until you tell me,” said Calliope, her voice rising until it all but crackled.

“I will do it slowly, and I will make sure they know you’re the one responsible.”

“If you hurt a single one of them, the deal’s off, and you’ll be stuck babysitting a bunch of limp bodies forever,” said Persephone. “I’m sure Cronus wouldn’t appreciate that very much.”

The fog lashed out, but it went straight through her torso, and Persephone didn’t so much as f linch. For some reason, they couldn’t hurt her, and she must have known. That was why she’d gone in. This had been her plan all along. Unless she’d just gotten lucky.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” said Calliope, her words dripping with contempt. “I know exactly what will happen the moment I remove their chains, and it doesn’t end well for me.”

“It won’t end well for you no matter what happens,” said Persephone. “You’ve managed to get yourself stuck in an impossible situation, and the only person you have to blame is yourself.”

Calliope growled, and the walls around us shook. Worried the entire cave was going to collapse on us, I took a step back toward the gap in the wall. Getting buried alive—

as an immortal, no less—wasn’t on my list of things to do.

At last the trembling stopped, and Calliope said in a voice so soft I had to strain to hear her, “Bring me Kate, and I’ll let them go.”

“Let them go, and I will,” countered Persephone. “Forgive me if I don’t trust you, but you haven’t been very reliable as of late.”

Calliope scowled. “I won’t do it, not without Kate, and if you won’t bring her to me, then there’s no point continuing. She’ll come sooner or later, and until that happens, I’ll wait.”